The federal leaders’ debate on April 17 was possibly the most substantive—and perhaps uneventful—Canada has held in several elections.
Aside from some embarrassing interruptions and a few irritating instances of several people all talking at once, it was mostly a respectful exchange of ideas and policy, highlighted at the end by the Liberal and Conservative leaders, Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre, sharing a few friendly words, a smile and a handshake.
The respectful tone carried over to Whistler’s all-candidates debate on April 22.
No matter which side of the political aisle you stand on, this kind of respect between political opponents is refreshing to see, particularly given the dumpster fire of diplomacy south of the border and the increasingly incendiary approach many are now taking to politics here in Canada. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet’s suggestion at the leaders debate that, no matter the result, all major party leaders pledge to meet post-election to discuss the best way forward for Canada was also refreshing to hear.
Politics should never be about entertainment, tribalism, us-versus-them team sports mentalities—and yet lately that’s all it really is.
This election has been the worst in recent memory, in that regard. The partisan lines were drawn some time ago, made deeper by the chaos and confusion of COVID, and each side has its faithful info warriors—useful idiots spamming misinformation in meme form at each other, screeching into the digital void, denigrating everyone who dares hold a different view than them, pissing each other off and ultimately convincing nobody of anything, and changing nobody’s mind. It makes you wonder who they’re even doing it for.
The answer in most cases, one has to suspect, is themselves. Posting the inflammatory meme, or the self-righteous diatribe, naturally engenders a response—either from those who agree, or those who vehemently don’t. And the response lights up their notifications; triggers that little hit of dopamine; gets the blood pumping and gives them something to fill their days.
That’s the only obvious reason for why a grown adult would spend multiple hours on the internet each day fighting with others in service of politicians who could not possibly care less about them, and policies that will ultimately barely affect them, if they ever come to fruition at all. Calling your neighbours names, hand-waving their concerns, painting everyone who thinks differently than your “team” with the same broad, convenient brush strokes. The proles in open revolt against one another, their country embroiled in a never-ending war with either Eastasia or Eurasia, it doesn’t matter which, while the ruling elite goes about the business of ruling, unphased.
It’s embarrassing and shameful, and regrettably has become the norm in modern society. But politics should never be this emotional. It should never pit neighbours against each other in blood feuds, and have them at each other’s throats both figuratively and sometimes literally. Politics should not be about ridicule, belittlement, or intimidation—tactics that reduce us to our dumbest, most basic instincts, and build nothing for anyone.
Politics should not be about tearing society, and each other, down. It should always be about building a better future for all of us, together.
But here we are, bashing each other over the head with our blunt ideas and partisan preferences, a race to the proverbial bottom of lowest-common-denominator consensus. Pre-emptively threatening to secede from the country if we don’t see the results we like at the ballot box, or worse—alluding to or outright threatening political violence.
In the age of Trump 2.0, is there any putting this ugly genie back in its bottle? Or are we doomed to ride this wave of delusional, dumbass discourse to its eventual end, however dark and dismal it will be?
The current outlook is not great.
It is unlikely, for any number of reasons—concerns around censorship chief among them—but a great place to start would be finding a way to properly fact-check and curate all political discussion on social media. The American broligarchy douchebags like Musk and Zuckerberg apparently have no interest in facts anymore, but AI could conceivably be very helpful in that regard.
How about a basic political literacy test to ensure the absolute dumbest, most ill-informed among us are not able to sway important discussions into the weeds?
If curation and accuracy is not feasible, ban online political discussion entirely—force people to actually defend their politics in-person, without the protection of their keyboards and computer screens, and see how fast their bullshit evaporates.
Because the major driver of our current division is our ill-informed, half-assed approach to political discourse; seeing something on Facebook, not fully understanding the context or nuance involved, but getting angry about it nonetheless, and then spreading our righteous outrage to others like a bad cold for them to share even wider.
In many cases, these are people who would likely not care a single sniff about politics were it not for social media working them up. The emotionally fragile rubes make an easy target for anyone looking to direct discourse for their own ends.
One bad take deserves another, and another, until the misinformation morphs into a full-blown globalist conspiracy theory.
Much of the nastiness is born online, but it quickly bleeds out into the real world. We see it in the Sea to Sky when candidates have their election signs trashed, or defaced with Hitler moustaches. Sign vandalism happens in every election, but it seems to get more prevalent with each passing vote, as we get more partisan and less patient for the results we hope to see. It doesn’t matter who you support—there is no room in our politics for this nonsense.
The mundanity of the federal leaders debate was defined by the less-politically-experienced Carney, who didn’t interrupt, spoke to the moderator/audience rather than the camera, and didn’t seem interested in shoehorning in a bunch of lame catchphrases or gotcha moments, as his opponents seemed intent on doing at every opportunity.
Your view will vary based on your own political leanings, but the non-partisan take is that Carney presented as a normal, boring human, respectfully presenting policy—an adult talking to other adults instead of the stereotypical politician sending winks and dogwhistles to supporters.
No matter who wins this election, there are tough times ahead for Canadians. We may not be able to force our leaders to act like respectful adults, but we sure as hell don’t have to emulate them.
Make politics respectful again, before it’s too late.
